Servers are designed today with a chassis that includes many electrical components and discrete functionality cards. For example, a server may comprise discrete functionality boards including, but not limited to those such as, an I/O card, a PCI subsection, a main central processor board, media devices, hard disk storage devices, and a service processor card. The components and cards are electrically connected to a component board, such as a midplane component board, through high-speed connectors, such as, but not limited to, connector styles such as (HDM or VHDM). The function of the component board is to distribute power and to connect the various components and cards together.
Conventionally, the component board is mounted vertically inside the chassis, while the central processor board and the PCI subsection lie flat or horizontal and connect to the component board at right angles. There are generally two methods for implementing a vertical component board architecture. The first utilizes a component board mounted laterally in the chassis (i.e., side-to-side). In this architecture, the central processor board is installed in a single motion by sliding the board into the chassis towards the component board until their connectors engage.
The second method for implementing a vertical component board architecture utilizes a component board mounted in the chassis in a front-to-rear orientation. In this architecture, several central processor boards may be installed in the chassis on one side of the component board, in which case the boards occupy all of the vertical space in the chassis on that side of the component board.
In some applications, however, only one central processor board is required, leaving space available in the chassis above the board. In this configuration, the thermal subsystem and even the power subsystem may be located in the chassis directly above the central processor board. In this case, the central processor board cannot be installed from the top of the chassis, and must instead be installed from the front.
However, because the component board is mounted in the chassis parallel to the direction of installation of the processor board, a bi-directional docking mechanism is required to insert the central processor board into the chassis from front-to-rear, and to then laterally dock the board to the component board. The present invention addresses such a need.